California Hydrogen Coalition asks for half a billion to support hydrogen industry
The cost of developing two revolutionary zero-emission concepts in parallel may have driven some to focus mainly on battery electric vehicles, but automakers are opting for the idea of fuel cells.
California Hydrogen Coalition today (13 May) has asked Governor Gavin Newsom for US$ 500 million in support of hydrogen infrastructure in the Golden State.
The call has come through a letter signed by executives of 25 multinational companies which are members of the California Hydrogen Coalition.
The executives emphasised increasing funding under the Clean Transportation Program reauthorisation, which would get US$ 240 million for the development of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, representing just 7% of total zero-emission infrastructure spending.
They asked the Governor to direct the California Energy Commission to dedicate $500 million of the $1 billion to hydrogen fuel infrastructure to serve the light-duty, transit and heavy-duty vehicle markets.
The executives wrote, “At this still early stage in market development, the signal California sends on hydrogen will impact private investment decisions. But in the medium- to long-run, hydrogen must and will stand on its own legs and be viable without external support,”
They pointed out, “The early stages of any technology curve must have some support, much as was seen in the early days of wind and solar power.”
The US hydrogen industry has the potential to create around US$ 140 billion/year in revenue by 2030, reaching US$ 750 billion/year by 2050.
The letter was signed by executives from:
- American Air Liquide Holdings
- Ballard
- Bayo Tech
- Black and Veatch
- BMW
- Cellcentric
- Chart
- Chevron
- Cummins
- Faurecia
- Hexagon Purus
- Hyundai
- Iwatani
- Linde
- Mann + Hummel
- Nel-Americas
- Nikola Motor
- Plug Power
- PowerTap Hydrogen Fueling Company
- Shell
- Toyota
- Toyota Tsusho
- True Zero
- Ways 2 H
- 122 West
